Environment and society: a reader

Environment and Society connects the core themes of environmental studies to the urgent issues and debates of the twenty-first century. In an era marked by climate change, rapid urbanization, and resource scarcity, environmental studies has emerged as a crucial arena of study. Assembling canonical and contemporary texts, this volume presents a systematic survey of concepts and issues central to the environment in society, such as: social mobilization on behalf of environmental objectives; the relationships between human population, economic growth and stresses on the planet's natural resources; debates about the relative effects of collective and individual action; and unequal distribution of the social costs of environmental degradation. Organized around key themes, with each section featuring questions for debate and suggestions for further reading, the book introduces students to the history of environmental studies, and demonstrates how the field's interdisciplinary approach uniquely engages the essential issues of the present.--Publisher's description.

Excerpts from the end of nature / Bill McKibben -- The anthropocene : are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature? / Will Steffen, Paul J. Crutzen and John R. McNeill -- Excerpts from the world without us / Alan Weisman -- Reinventing eden : western culture as a recovery narrative / Carolyn Merchant -- Excerpts from Laudato si / Pope Francis -- Excerpts from "The etiquette of freedom" / Gary Snyder -- Excerpt from "The land ethic" / Aldo Leopold -- Hetch Hetchy Valley / John Muir -- Excerpts from Silent spring / Rachel Carson -- Environmentalism and social justice / Robert Bullard -- Where we live, work and play / Robert Gottlieb -- Excerpts from "the death of environmentalism" / Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger -- The paradox of global environmentalism / Ramachandra Guha -- Between violence and desire : space, power, and identity in the making of -- Metropolitan delhi / Amita Baviskar -- An essay on the principle of population / Thomas Malthus -- How do we know we have global environmental problems? : science and the globalization of environmental discourse / Peter J. Taylor and Frederick H. Buttel -- The ipat equation and its variants / Marian R. Chertow -- Soci…